Berlin 1936

Opening Date

01 Aug 1936

Closing Date

16 Aug 1936

Country of the host city

Germany

Candidate cities

Barcelona

Information

The Games were awarded to Berlin before the rise to power of the National Socialist Party. But they will always be remembered as 'Hitler's Olympics'. Boycotts were proposed yet the 37 nations in the USA turned into 48 in Germany. There were reasons to remember 1936 quite apart from the politics. It was the first televised Games with transmissions relayed into the viewing halls. And Leni Riefenstahl made her superlative film Olympischen Spiele, still critically acclaimed.

Yachting took place at Kiel with Olympic Jolle replacing the Snowbird as the organiser-supplied dinghy class. The boats were rotated amongst competitors between events so established the equal-equipment ethos still in favour today. Daniel Kagghelland of the Netherlands won the gold with Peter Scott taking the bronze after retiring from the last race for contact with Germany's Werner Krogmann. Scott was later world renowned as a naturalist. His father was Capt Robert Falcon Scott, of Antarctic fame.

Italy's first ever medal, a gold, was won by Giovanni Leone-Reggio in the 8-Metre class with Briton Charles Leaf winning the Sixes in his new Nicholson design, despite not winning an race. In a breezy series, with mainsails often reefed, Leaf's crew showed great boathandling. Taking bronze in the Star fleet was Willem de Vries Lentsch, later to become a distinguished motor yacht designer.